This article contributes to the emerging field of script development in the academy through exploring how a screenwriter can draw upon key elements of an indigenous culture to inform a screenplay. My PhD feature film screenplay, Kiribati Phoenix, is set in my birthplace, the small Pacific island nation of Kiribati. Located about 5000 km from Sydney, Kiribati is speculated as the first place on earth to witness the sunrise. Despite their 5000-year history, the I-Kiribati people have a limited voice in feature film cinema. My screenplay journeys with my Australian father and I-Kiribati mother during the decades after Kiribati’s independence from British colonial governance in 1979. My family story reflects the grapple with preserving traditional Kiribati cultural heritage amid the sweeping influences of Western modernity. Further, the narrow low-lying atolls of Kiribati currently confront the challenges of climate change, particularly rising sea levels. Against this backdrop, my screenplay offers a Kiribati voice exploring Kiribati cultural heritage for cinematic posterity. While culture remains an amorphous concept, this article will examine how my PhD screenplay draws upon key elements of my Micronesian Kiribati heritage to explore my family’s cultural identity. Further, it discusses how the critically acclaimed Australian film Ten Canoes (de Heer and Dijigirr) explores the cultural identity of the Aboriginal Yolgnu People for posterity. While there are significant differences between Kiribati culture and Aboriginal Yolgnu culture, this article reveals how the hallmarks of storytelling, language, landscape and ritual have emerged as key parallels to inform my PhD script development. This unique synthesis contributes to the emerging field of script development in the academy.

Keywords: screenwriting, script development, creative practice, Kiribati People, Ten Canoes